You see, in most public schools today, there are kids who
don't want to be there. They don't
value being in a classroom. They want to do something---
anything---else. They don't care about how well they do in class, so they are disruptive. Their presence in the classroom is a harmful distraction to those students who would probably enjoy being in school a lot more if not for the presence of students who are making them think that perhaps they are "missing out on something."
What I see in this situation is a lack of structural incentives in the public school model. If all children are forced to attend classes whether they like it or not, then you're going to end up with a class environment that is not optimal for serious students. For the sake of those students who like being in school (or would like being in school if things were different) we need to `cleanse' the classroom environment of all malcontents. Instead of forcing teenagers to attend school when they really don't want to be there, we should give them some choices.
Here are the choices they should be given: Children should understand that when they reach the age of approximately 14, they will have a choice to either (1) continually earn the privilege of attending school through earnest application of effort, (2) work full-time for some private/public employer that the state finds acceptable (working for a drug dealer wouldn't be), or (3) go to the Other Place we will set up where they will work, anyway. Two options that would not be considered acceptable would be (A) staying home and watching TV, and (B) hanging out with your friends. "Idleness" in general would not be an option.
If a kid wants to work instead of going to school, then why not let her? It would certainly be better than putting her in a classroom where her discontent begins to affect others. Just because a kid chooses to go to work at the age of fourteen doesn't mean that she would forever be forced to forsake the option of taking another shot at school later. That option should always be available to a citizen. Once a kid gets a good feel for what it's like to work full-time for a living, she just might find she has some real incentive to study hard and seek to make some teacher pleased with her effort. This is just the kind of incentive that some kids need in order to resist the temptations of teenage social life and apply themselves to the challenges of being a successful student.
Teachers of teenagers should never have to deal with anything other than sporadic and mild disciplinary issues. School should be presented as a place of Special Privilege, that every child has a right to attend as long as she is willing to earnestly apply herself. If much individual instruction is required, then it should be provided (teachers/schools must be provided with the time resources they need). The `door should always be open' to those who tried working for a while and decided that maybe they should try going back to school to achieve more with their young lives.
Those who choose not to go to school would have to be monitored by the state. Private employer jobs must be considered legitimate or the child will be forced to show up every work day at the Other Place we will set up. We won't call it a Boot Camp; perhaps we'll call it a Structured Day Center. Attendance will be compulsory. Their days will be tightly structured and they will work for a wage. Those who choose not to attend this Other Place voluntarily (or to go to school or work elsewhere) will be forced to stay in the `dorms' we'll set up. They'll be allowed to see their parents on the weekends. (Such kids would be so `incorrigible', their parents would probably thank the state for doing them the favor).
Yes, ultimately our freedom and our choices are limited. It's important for us to have choices, but there are some individual choices that we as a society do not find acceptable, like killing those jerks who cut us off in traffic. To give teenagers more freedom than is granted within these parameters is to put society at unnecessary risk. Of course every effort should be made to `reform' those teenagers who are `incentive-challenged.' My recommendation is that we give teenagers more freedom than they currently have, but not, of course, unlimited freedom.
This kind of approach to public school organization would improve incentives at every level. The `good students' will be delivered from the distractions of malcontents and will feel as though they are enjoying a special privilege that they are earning. The kids who don't want to be in school will either become happier as productive citizens or they will discover from their experience of life's other options that they just might want to `straighten up' and get their butts back in school and behave themselves. Those kids who are `truly incorrigible' will no longer be permitted to occupy themselves in ways that often end up being criminal in nature. Society as a whole, and certain neighborhoods in particular, would enjoy a welcome reduction in crime rates.
Ultimately, incentives matter a lot. I'm not sure how it is that our public schools became emasculated baby-sitters of our restless youth, but that has got to change. If we make it a privilege to attend school as a teenager, we will soon see that private schools no longer have an advantage over public schools. I'm quite confident that once we set up the proper incentives, the number of teenagers who choose to work (or be institutionalized) instead of being students will continue to shrink to very small numbers.
They will get the help that they need.
My website: Nontrivial Pursuits
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